An achingly beautiful story of an old lady’s loneliness and her deliverance from it
This achingly beautiful story of an old lady’s loneliness, and her deliverance from it, moved me beyond words. It took me to places I’ve never been to before. It made my heart sing and my spirit soar. And it renewed my joy in the pleasure and power of the written word. For a debut novel, it really is a triumph.
It’s impossible not to warm to 80 year-old Missy Carmichael. Missy has spent her life marching to the beat of everyone else’s drum, sacrificing a brilliant career to manage a home and raise a family. Now she is alone: friendless, estranged from her daughter, and with her precious son and grandson settled 12,000 miles away in Australia.
Proud and stubborn, Missy rattles around her big, empty house, nursing her solitude and regrets, and thinking back over her decades-long marriage to husband Leo. Her world is small and gloomy; her future joyless.
Enter stage left: Angie, Sylvie, 4 year-old Otis and Bobbie the dog.
What follows, as Missy is drawn into the warmth of their friendship is one of the most touching stories I’ve ever read. I challenge anyone not to be moved by Missy’s transformation — at first hesitant, then wholeheartedly embraced — as she rediscovers her true self, forgives her mistakes and celebrates who she is beyond a wife, mother and grandmother.
It’s at once poignant, yet uplifting; unutterably sad, yet suffused with delightful bursts of bold humour. And there are moments so tender — notably the cleverly concealed twist in the closing chapter — as to take your breath away.
I read the book from start to finish with a lump in my throat and an ache in my heart. I dwell on it still and will do so for a very long time to come. All I can say is, read it and see for yourself.
It’s impossible not to warm to 80 year-old Missy Carmichael. Missy has spent her life marching to the beat of everyone else’s drum, sacrificing a brilliant career to manage a home and raise a family. Now she is alone: friendless, estranged from her daughter, and with her precious son and grandson settled 12,000 miles away in Australia.
Proud and stubborn, Missy rattles around her big, empty house, nursing her solitude and regrets, and thinking back over her decades-long marriage to husband Leo. Her world is small and gloomy; her future joyless.
Enter stage left: Angie, Sylvie, 4 year-old Otis and Bobbie the dog.
What follows, as Missy is drawn into the warmth of their friendship is one of the most touching stories I’ve ever read. I challenge anyone not to be moved by Missy’s transformation — at first hesitant, then wholeheartedly embraced — as she rediscovers her true self, forgives her mistakes and celebrates who she is beyond a wife, mother and grandmother.
It’s at once poignant, yet uplifting; unutterably sad, yet suffused with delightful bursts of bold humour. And there are moments so tender — notably the cleverly concealed twist in the closing chapter — as to take your breath away.
I read the book from start to finish with a lump in my throat and an ache in my heart. I dwell on it still and will do so for a very long time to come. All I can say is, read it and see for yourself.